These notes include affiliate links.

Today on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re sharing our latest book reads conversation — this is part 1 of 2 featuring the Verbivore’s stories!

Over the last few months instead of doing our typical bookclub episodes, we’ve started talking about some of the things we’ve recently read and enjoyed, connected with, or learned from. It’s been a great way to share what we’re consuming and loving lately and finding new recommendations.

In this episode, the Verbivore covers a range of books and one film - two much anticipated romcoms, a thoughtful and wry coming-of-age story, an actionable guide focused on creativity and cultivating our attention, a potent and boiled down craft book, an emotionally profound standalone sci-fi film, and several YouTube channels on storytelling and writing.

We also talk a lot about these stories from a craft perspective, what the authors, writers, or directors did that we found interesting. Things like:

• Better Hate than Never - Using a well known story for a retelling and actively deciding what to keep, what to leave out, and what to explore and challenge; Introducing a character at their best, so that we can accept them at their most unlikeable

• Kiss the Girl - Using a retelling of a beloved story as a jumping off point to create something new and honor — but also interrogate — the original; Knowing and leaning in to the distinctive flavors of your story; Creating distinctive characters whose details also tell us about who they are,

• Frankly in Love - Immersing the reader quickly to the physical, psychological, and emotional world of the main character; Crafting an engaging story that’s funny and poignant

• The Art of Noticing - Taking color walks and paying attention to what you notice first, In everyday situations looking for the plot and creating a narrative

• Ten Things About Writing: Build Your Story, One Word at a Time  - Potent, succinct, and actionable takeaways in tweet format on topics from style to plot to character.

• Loki Season 2 - What retconning does to your tension and momentum, Looking at scene length and how it affects the pace of a project, If you make promises to your audience try to keep it and don’t let the characters take the easy way out

• The Creator - Digging in with how we as humans see and treat each other using AI robots; Finding and clearly communicating the emotional core of your story.

Towards the end of our conversation, the Verbivore talks about some of her favorite YouTube video essayists that dig into storytelling and writing craft concepts from a film, psychology, and screenwriting perspective including: Pop Culture Detective, The Take, Cinema Therapy, Just Write, and Lessons from the Screenplay.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

The Verbivore talks about some of her favorite YouTube essayist on storytelling and writing. Here are those channels:

• Pop Culture Detective

• The Take

• Cinema Therapy

• Just Write

• Lessons from the Screenplay

Here are a few favorite YouTube video essays:

• Pop Culture Detective - Everyone Everywhere Needs Waymond Wang (and Ke Huy Quan)

• Pop Culture Detective - The Fantastic Masculinity of Newt Scamander

• Pop Culture Detective - Born Sexy Yesterday

• The Take - The Real Meaning of Barbie (And That Surprise Ending) | Feminism Series

• The Take - The Strong Female Character Trope, Explained

• Cinema Therapy: Is THE MATRIX TRILOGY a Philosophy 210 course?

• Cinema Therapy: Can we pick ourselves back up like BATMAN?

• Just Write - The Pirates Trilogy is Pure Bliss

• Just Write - The Hunger Games: Revolutions Are Hard To Write

• Lessons from the Screenplay - Jurassic Park — Using Theme to Craft Character

• Lessons from the Screenplay - The Soul of Good Character Design

• Lessons from the Screenplay - The Avengers — Defining an Act

• Lessons from the Screenplay - Iron Man vs. Captain America — The 11-Year Character Arc 

Books and Films Mentioned:

• Better Hate than Never by Chloe Liese

• Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese

• Kiss the Girl (Meant to Be) by Zoraida Córdova

• By the Book (Meant to Be) by Jasmine Guillory

• Frankly in Love by David Yoon

• The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker

• Ten Things About Writing: Build Your Story, One Word at a Time by Johanne Harris

• The Creator - Directed by Gareth Edwards

Music from:https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)